|Publication number||US8109339 B2|
|Application number||US 12/545,424|
|Publication date||Feb 7, 2012|
|Filing date||Aug 21, 2009|
|Priority date||Aug 21, 2009|
|Also published as||US20110042105, WO2011022574A2, WO2011022574A3|
|Publication number||12545424, 545424, US 8109339 B2, US 8109339B2, US-B2-8109339, US8109339 B2, US8109339B2|
|Inventors||Richard YingQing Xu|
|Original Assignee||Baker Hughes Incorporated|
|Export Citation||BiBTeX, EndNote, RefMan|
|Patent Citations (9), Non-Patent Citations (1), Referenced by (4), Classifications (7), Legal Events (2)|
|External Links: USPTO, USPTO Assignment, Espacenet|
Common in the downhole drilling and completion arts is the traditional body lock ring. The ring is well known and includes a finely threaded section commonly referred to as “wicker threads” or “wickers” on an inside dimension of the body lock ring that are configured to be engageable with a set of wickers on an outside dimension surface of another component. The body lock ring may be urged along the other component under an applied force to ratchet into a final set position. Because there is a finite distance between adjacent peaks of wicker threads, there is necessarily a potential backlash. In the event that the applied force brings the wickers to very close but not quite the next wicker trough, the device being actuated will relax in backlash by the distance between the wickers. It is possible to reduce backlash by reducing the peak-to-peak distance between adjacent wickers. A reduction in this dimension, however, is often accompanied by a reduction in every tooth dimension including height and flank surface area as well. A reduction in tooth flank surface area tends to proportionally reduce the “holding ability” of such flanks. While the backlash is necessarily reduced in this type of construction, the potential for slippage of the body lock so constructed is increased. Since slippage is unquestionably undesirable, wickers with reduced peak-to-peak dimensions are not often the selected solution to the backlash problem.
In some situations the backlash is inconsequential while in others it can be catastrophic to the function of the particular tool or device. For example, if the device is a sealing tool, the backlash may allow sufficient energy in the seal to relax that the seal function is substantially lost. In other devices, while the entire or any substantial part of the functionality may not be lost, it clearly would be better for the ring to retain the input energy than to lose energy. Hence, it is axiomatic that the art would well receive improved apparatus where backlash is reduced or eliminated.
A zero backlash downhole setting tool including a mandrel; a body lock ring at the mandrel; a setting sleeve in operable communication with a device to be set; a rotary take-up in tensile force transmissive contact with the device to be set; and a follower housing configured to follow the rotary take-up in a first mode of operation and extend away therefrom in another mode of operation, the follower being engaged with the body lock ring.
A zero backlash downhole setting tool including a setting sleeve; a linear to rotary motion converter depending from the setting sleeve; a rotary take-up; a follower housing forming an interface with the rotary take-up; and a body lock ring in operable communication with the follower housing, a backlash of the body lock ring being counteractable by a change in combined length of the rotary take-up and the follower housing.
A method for setting a downhole tool with zero backlash including urging a setting sleeve against one or more resilient elements; transmitting a setting force to a device to be set through the one or more resilient elements; pulling a rotary take-up and a follower housing thereby causing a ratcheting of a body lock ring with the follower housing; axially translating a pin connected to the setting sleeve to impart a rotation to the rotary take-up; and extending the combined length of the rotary take-up and the follower housing to counteract backlash in the body lock ring.
Referring now to the drawings wherein like elements are numbered alike in the several figures:
Referring back to
In operation, the tool 10 is run into a borehole (not shown) and a setting load is placed upon the setting sleeve 12 from some remote location such as a surface location. The setting sleeve compresses the one or more resilient elements 14 to a partial degree that is sufficient for the setting force to be transmitted to the device 16 to be set. The device is hence set using that force. During the movement that is a part of the setting action of the device 16, for example the movement of an uphole end of a seal relative to a downhole end of a seal, the rotary take-up and the follower housing are drawn downhole. The impetus for this first mode of operation is the groove in the device 16 as shown and through the set screws 46 into the rotary take-up 18, through the hooks 44 and into the follower housing 20. As the follower housing 20 moves in the downhole direction, it ratchets along the body lock ring 22 which itself ratchets along mandrel 24. The follower housing 20 is not loaded in compression by anything but rather simply drawn along by tensile load. The ratcheting along the body lock ring provides an anchoring function for the set force and is similar to any common body lock ring operation. It does suffer the drawback of backlash just as do similar devices of the prior art. In accordance with the invention described herein however, the backlash is counteracted with other components of the tool 10 as further described hereunder.
Once the device 16 is fully set, it stops moving downhole and the setting force of the setting sleeve mounts on the one or more resilient elements 14. The elements 14 continue to deform under this load and accordingly occupy less axial space. This allows the setting sleeve 12 to continue to move toward the device 16 without the device 16 moving. Because the pin 28 is connected to the sleeve 12, it too will translate toward the device 16. Further, because the rotary take-up 18 and follower housing 20 are only moved axially by tensile load from the device 16, they do not move directly axially at this stage. Rather, as the pin 28 comes into loaded contact with the surface 30, a rotary input is caused for the rotary take-up 18, which responsively rotates. The rotation, a second mode of operation, causes the helical ramp or part helical ramps 40 and 42 as shown to climb each other, effectively lengthening the combined length of rotary take-up 18 and follower housing 20. The increase in length will cause the follower housing to move away from the device 16 thereby taking up the backlash in the body lock ring 22. It is noted that because the follower housing 20 nor the rotary take-up 18 are compressively loaded during the process thus far described, the rotary input of the pin 28 will easily rotate the rotary take-up 18 and the ramps 40 and 42 will easily slide past one another. Once the rotation of the rotary take-up is complete however, meaning that all of the backlash in the system has been counteracted by the lengthening of the combined length of the rotary take-up 18 and the follower housing 20, the rotary take-up and follower housing 20 will be subjected to compressive load upon release of the setting force from the setting sleeve. Under this compressive load, rotation of the rotary take-up is inhibited by friction to the point that such rotation is prevented. The angles alpha of the ramps 40 and 42 are selected to disallow backdriving thereof. Angles providing this result range from greater than about 0 degrees to about 45 degrees, with one specific embodiment being at about 5 degrees. The angle alpha appropriately selected in accordance herewith can be determined using the formula:
alpha=arctan(coefficient of friction)
It should be appreciated that the greater the angle, the less the required stroke of the setting sleeve and the less rotation of the rotary take-up needed to counteract backlash however, the greater the angle, the easier for the system to be back driven. For higher angles the ramps 40 and 42 will require friction enhancing surface treatments such as roughness.
While one or more embodiments have been shown and described, modifications and substitutions may be made thereto without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, it is to be understood that the present invention has been described by way of illustrations and not limitation.
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|Citing Patent||Filing date||Publication date||Applicant||Title|
|US8430176 *||Apr 30, 2013||Baker Hughes Incorporated||Zero backlash downhole setting tool and method|
|US9259351||Nov 21, 2012||Feb 16, 2016||Johnson & Johnson Vision Care, Inc.||Punctal plugs|
|US9259352||Nov 21, 2012||Feb 16, 2016||Johnson & Johnson Vision Care, Inc.||Punctal plugs|
|US20110042104 *||Feb 24, 2011||Baker Hughes Incorporated||Zero backlash downhole setting tool and method|
|U.S. Classification||166/382, 166/237|
|Cooperative Classification||E21B23/06, E21B23/006|
|European Classification||E21B23/00M2, E21B23/06|
|Sep 15, 2009||AS||Assignment|
Owner name: BAKER HUGHES INCORPORATED, TEXAS
Free format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST;ASSIGNOR:XU, RICHARD YINGQING;REEL/FRAME:023229/0866
Effective date: 20090825
|Jul 22, 2015||FPAY||Fee payment|
Year of fee payment: 4